Archive for September, 2011

De Beers has just signed a ten year deal with Botswana which will see the De Beers sights move from its offices in London to Botswana. De Beers sights are the certain periods in the year where the direct customers of De Beers meet to buy rough diamonds for manufacturing. This is a major shift for De Beers and will see a major increase in Botswana’s standing as a significant diamond trading destination.

One of the significant problems with the 4Cs selling focus is that many other areas, which should be looked at, are not. One of these areas includes wether or not a diamond is treated. There are many types of treatments used on a secondary market. Treatments can range from enhancing the colour of a diamond to drilling into a diamond to remove an inclusion or make it look smaller and thus get a better clarity grade on the diamond. In many cases, these treatments make the diamond less solid and are typically just a short term solution. For instance, a colour treatment to a diamond may be reversed once heat is added to it. Jewellers often times apply heat when crafting rings. This means once the diamond is set, it could return already to its original colour.

Experienced diamond traders and reputable jewellers are well versed in these types of diamonds. When a customer has selected a reputable jeweller, this is one of the areas the jeweller will focus on to insure the customer gets a genuine untreated diamond. Treated diamonds trade at significant discounts. Thus, a customer thinks they have gotten a great deal, but really they have overpaid for an altered diamond.

As the saying goes, “if it’s too good to be true, it usually is”. I have seen this motto proven time and time again. Trust your local jeweller. Reading a few websites is not the equivalent to years of trade experience.